People can change
by daughterofeos11
Summary: A pertemis one-shot about how people can change. I don't own the Percy Jackson Series, Rick Riordan does.


Artemis sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. She was in her eighteen year old form and was wearing a beautiful, flowing silvery white dress with silver gladiator sandals. On her neck she wore a simple silver necklace with a sapphire in the shape of a crescent moon and matching silver earrings on her ears. Her curly auburn hair flowed over her left shoulder and down her back. She wore no make up as she believed in natural beauty. On her hand was a silver bracelet adorned with sapphires, and a single ring with a silver band and a sapphire in the shape of a moon. She knew that she looked beautiful, she was a goddess after all, but she didn't care about her looks. She didn't even want to attend this party, but her father had told her that it was incredibly important that she went. And she had to go with a man. Even worse was the fact that the man she had to go with was none other than Perseus, son of Poseidon, Olympian God of Tides, Frost, Heroes, Stars, and Sea creatures. He was also the Minor God of Music and Sword-fighting and was well known for being a typical play-boy male that Artemis despised. She wondered why she couldn't go with the other son of Poseidon, Triton, who was quiet, respectful, and never had affairs with anyone. If she _had _to go with someone, then why couldn't it have been the decent male instead of the filthy, disgusting pig. But her father had made it clear that, despite all her protests, she had to attend the party with the youngest son of Poseidon. She had been prepared to threaten her father that she would run away, when he had offered her a deal. He had told her that if she attended this one party with Perseus, then he would arrange for some extra protection for her Hunters. She knew that she needed extra protection as her hunters had come across a large group of monsters recently and were currently injured or bruised pretty badly. She sighed again. '_It couldn't be that bad right?'_

A few minutes later her Lieutenant, Thalia Grace daughter of Zeus, knocked on her tent. Thalia was the least injured, with only a sprained ankle and a light cut on her arm. "Lady Artemis, Percy's here," she called. Thalia had a pretty good relationship with Perseus, she considered him a brother and was very good friends with him. Artemis wasn't too happy about that but had decided to allow it and was pretty used to it by now. "I'll be right out!" Artemis shouted back. She took a deep breathe and grabbed her diadem before exiting her tent and walking towards the Hunters who were crowded around something. As she approached, they moved out of her way, bowing and finally letting her see what they had been staring at. Before her, was a magnificent black chariot, studded with small white diamonds, all glinting in the moonlight like stars. It was drawn by four black pegasi which was odd as I had never seen a black pegasus before, let alone four. Leaning against the side of the chariot, was a boy. He appeared to be around eighteen years old. He had silky, black, windswept hair that gently fell over his eyes, perfectly tanned skin, an upturned nose, high cheekbones and heavenly lips that were pulled into a charming trouble-maker smirk. He was well toned and had a lean, chiseled body. He wore a shiny black tux with a black dress shirt and a silver tie. He had polished, black dress shoes with silver laces. But his best features were his eyes. They were a beautiful shade of sea green with flecks of ice blue and silver, turning them into whirlpools that sucked you in one you looked at them and made you feel like fainting.

But Artemis knew not to fall for those charming looks. She knew exactly what kind of a _male_ he was. He would take you in, pretend to actually care for you, and then, he would leave you without a second glance. So no, Artemis would not be fooled by his facade. She knew exactly who she was dealing with. Putting on a mask of cold indifference, she walked up to him with her head held high, taking caution in putting a respectable amount of space between them.

"Perseus, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said coldly. Perseus smirked.

"Oh I assure you Artemis, the pleasure," he started, gently grabbing her hand and placing a soft kiss on her knuckles, "Is all mine." Artemis stiffened and hastily took back her hand.

"Shall we get going then," she suggested, not really wanting to spend any more time with him.

"Of course," Perseus replied smoothly. He hopped up into the chariot and offered her his hand, which she chose to ignore and climbed up on her own. She gave a quick nod to Thalia and the other Hunters, before they rode off into the night sky.

The ride to Olympus was awkward to say the least. They made small talk about the other gods, politics on Olympus and even the weather! All the while, Perseus wore that infuriating smirk and had an amused glint in his eyes. Artemis however was not amused. She had sat as far away as she could from the male, and kept glaring him when he wasn't looking. At one point, he had almost flown into a flock of birds, and had just turned in the last second, which was almost enough to make Artemis start shooting arrows and yelling at him. She was beyond glad when they had finally arrived. One more second, and she would have exploded, figuratively that is. Olympus had been beautifully decorated for this party and was already filled with many gods and goddesses. The muses were playing lovely tunes and the nymphs were walking around, flirting with every god available. As they walked around and made their way to the throne room, they were greeted by many gods and nymphs, most of which, just wanted to flirt with Perseus. Artemis made sure to glare at them all at least once. Even if she didn't care for Perseus, she still wasn't going to let everyone flirt with him. That would make her the laughing stock of the night! '_And you're jealous that they're getting his attention_' a voice whispered in her head. '_Shut up_' she told it.

Finally, after a long walk, they made it to the the throne room, where all the Olympian Gods were chatting. Immediately, Perseus made a break for Apollo and Hermes, while Artemis walked straight towards Athena and Aphrodite, whom she was actually good friends with, despite their differences.

"Yo Perce! How ya doing man!" Hermes called out. Percy grinned at him and waved.

"Hello Artemis, how are you?" Athena asked politely.

"OMG! How did you get _Percy _to be your date!" Aphrodite squealed.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking Athena, and he is not my date Aphrodite! Father just made me attend with him" Artemis replied, glaring at Aphrodite and smiling at Athena.

"_Sure _Artemis, that's why you came with Percy," Aphrodite rolled her eyes while smirking knowingly. Artemis scowled at Aphrodite and opened her mouth to argue when Athena beat her to it.

"You have to admit Artemis, it does seem like there's more of a reason than Father telling you. Aphrodite has a point," Athena stated with an amused smile on her face. Artemis was now downright glaring at the both of them. She was just about to tell them exactly what she thought of them, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She quickly spun around and found herself face to face with the object of her troubles.

"Perseus," she stated in clear surprise.

"Zeus, my father, and Hades want to see us," he told me. She nodded and motioned for him to lead the way, glancing at her friends before following him. As they approached them, she noticed that the big three were eagerly discussing something and seemed to have oddly satisfied looks on their faces.

"Ah Artemis! My daughter! How good to see you! Come, come, we have much to discuss!" Zeus exclaimed excitedly when he noticed his daughter standing there. Artemis nodded with a confused look on her face.

"You asked for me father?" she asked. Zeus nodded eagerly.

"Oh yes! I have some wonderful news for you!" he replied.

"What is it?" Artemis asked frowning.

"You're getting MARRIED! To Perseus!" he exclaimed joyfully. Artemis's mouth fell open and her eyes widened comically. She just stared at her her is shock. What! Her, get MARRIED! Her father must have finally lost it. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Perseus to see how he was taking the news. He just squinted his eyes at Zeus with his mouth slightly open in disbelief, as if wondering if Zeus needed to visit Apollo's hospital.

He turned to face his father.

"Dad what is he talking about!" he demanded in slight confusion.

"He is telling the truth. You and Artemis are going to get married so that everyone will know that the sky and seas have united. And since you are Hades's favourite, it means the underworld has united with the sea and the sky too," Poseidon explained proudly. Artemis continued to stare in disbelief.

"No," she whispered in despair before sprinting out of the throne room. Percy looked at the big three before running after her. He figured that she would be in the gardens or something and set about looking for her. After a while, he had wandered far away from the party and was searching in a secluded area near the edge of Olympus, when he heard a soft cry. He followed the sound through some trees and bushes until he came to a clearing. There was a small clear pond in the center and the floor was littered with flowers, on the other side of the pond was the silver railing that marked the edge of Olympus. Sitting with her back facing him with her feet in the pond, was a figure.

"Oh Artemis," Percy whispered. He slowly walked over and sat next to her. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and tears silently streamed down her face, but in his opinion, she was still beautiful.

"Why you," she whispered, "Why must I get married to the biggest play-boy on Olympus, the one who will break my heart over and over again, the one who I will have to give up everything I have worked for"

Artemis was broken. She couldn't understand what she had done to make the Fates hate her like this. Everything she had prided herself in would soon be given up for this selfish, merciless pig. She couldn't understand why.

"I won't cheat on you," he whispered softly. She looked at him as if he was crazy. "Look, I know I'm considered as Olympus's biggest play-boy, but if you give me a chance, I will prove to you that I can be faithful, that I can care for you as a husband should," he said in a slightly desperate tone.

"And why would I believe you, you've probably knocked up more than half the goddesses!" Artemis laughed bitterly.

"Because," Percy licked his lips nervously, "I swear on the Styx that I'm still a virgin." Artemis looked at him in shock as thunder rumbled in the background. There were a few moments of silence as Artemis just stared at him.

"Why would you even care?" she finally asked softly, breaking the silence. He looked at her in shock this time.

"What do you mean! Of course I would care!" he exclaimed before sighing softly. " Artemis, I know I may seem really cold hearted and stuff, but I'm not like that, not really. When I first saw you, I was amazed. By your beauty, strength, and courage. I instantly knew that I had to get close to you. But then you took that vow and started hating men, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to get near you. Until I saw Apollo going to your camp and being close to you by being the very person you hated. I figured that if I was like that, then I would be able to get close to you too. And it worked. You hated me, but at least I got your attention. It wasn't enough though, so I made sure to always have some kind of creature keeping an eye on you and protecting you. I also secretly guided some girls to your camp. I made sure that you were always safe and I have always cared for you, Artemis, I always will." He had moved closer to her as he said this in a strained voice and they were now only centimeters apart. Artemis could feel his warm breath on her face and could smell his intoxicating scent of the ocean.

"How can I trust you on this," she asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she looked deep into his swirling eyes.

"Because people can change Artemis," he replied, closing the distance between their lips while snaking his arms around her waist.

And as Artemis wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her lips tightly against his, she silently agreed with him.

_'People can change'_

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**Hey guys! Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate it if you could leave a review or some tips on how I could improve my writing. Could you please check out my wattpad account too! My user name is daughterofeos on wattpad too. I really need help with my writing because this is a possible career choice for me. I really appreciate the time you give to reading this story! Thank you so much! I love you guys! xxx**


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